Cracker Shields
by coop500
Summary: Lucifer wakes up to a thief in his penthouse but a case keeps him from dealing with it right away. Maze gets a little carried away with her knives in Chloe's apartment. This story does contain a person being gently swallowed whole, but no harm comes to them and it's for a nice reason. No malicious intent or wish to harm here.


It was late morning in the city of angels, the electric clock on the nightstand next to a bed covered in black sheets reading 10:35. The huge window, almost a glass wall really, allowed the sunshine to flow in the room. By now most people were awake, at school or work and likely been there for hours, but one Lucifer Morningstar was a late sleeper, since his jobs were either at night or whenever someone finds a dead human. Though one could hardly call the nightclub parties a job, he did still have to do the paperwork and keep the place running. For once Lucifer was alone in bed, either the others went home by now or he just decided to sleep alone.

He looked content and relaxed, hands crossed over his chest even as the sun's rays shined right in his eyes through the glass. It was probably only a matter of time before it eventually woke him up. However, in the end Lucifer was not truly alone, something else lurked in his penthouse, namely by the private bar in the other room. Sitting on the counter, a small figure was attempting to pull a half a roll of crackers out of a box, both items much bigger than the little thing wrestling with it. That much remained clear when nothing budged, the crackers and the box stayed in place.

What was wrestling the simple baked snacks was a tiny child, not much bigger than someone's index finger. She panted as she sat down to catch her breath, wiping her hands on her little pink dress that had green and yellow flowers on it. After taking a minute or two to rest, she got up again and decided to open the weakly closed wrapper holding the crackers. Since she couldn't bring the whole thing, she figured it'd be easier to just take some and leave it. But the wrapper was a noisy plastic that crinkled and made more noise than she was comfortable with. If there was something safer for her to grab she would have, but Lucifer had most of his food packed away pretty good.

The noise did not fall on deaf ears entirely, the Devil stirred from his slumber, a ringed hand grabbing the edge of the black blanket and slowly pulling it off himself. He was wearing his black and red nightgown, showing it was very likely he did go to bed alone. But he didn't seem all too phased by it. A deep, unhappy grumble came from him as he put a arm over his eyes to block the sunlight, his body clearly in the state of wanting to go back to sleep. But he stole a glance at the clock and saw the time, 10;40 now, it was definitely time to get up.

Soon he sat up, hair in a mess at the moment but like every day he'd fix it before going out in public. He swung his legs around and slipped his feet into fuzzy black slippers. While the noise woke him up, he was a bit too groggy to care what it was and made his way to the bathroom to get cleaned up and spiff up himself. The crinkling had stopped as he fussed with his hair, combing it and styling it to his preference. Next was brushing his teeth, after all even the Devil had to have a clean set of teeth.

The child on the bar table stopped when she heard the owner of the penthouse walking around, two crackers were loose and set aside for her to grab when she was done, but she didn't want to risk alerting the man by continuing. That was until she heard him go into the bathroom, perfect she thought. As she wrestled to get more crackers out of the package though, gravity took over. With the roll being round and mostly out of the box, with the last tug she made to get the third cracker, the roll started to... well, roll off the counter-top. "Wait no! " She exclaimed, reaching to try and stop it but her arms were too short.

The roll fell off the bar and onto the floor, likely breaking some of the crackers inside. Before the young blue eyed blonde girl could hide, Lucifer came from around the bedroom corner, toothbrush in hand and foamy toothpaste in his mouth. "Bloody Hell, what is going on? " He asked, though the words were a little garbled he managed to not make a mess and get toothpaste anywhere. He saw his cracker box on the counter, then the roll on the floor, but what he didn't understand was he knew he didn't open it or leave it out, he just bought it yesterday. Then he saw her, a teeny little child looking guilty, like a deer caught in the headlights.

The girl giggled shyly, slowly putting the third cracker down on top of the other two, almost like she was trying to not trigger a predator's instincts to give chase. But then she noticed the foamy stuff on his lips and gasped. "You have rabies! " She suddenly exclaimed, sounding genuinely horrified as she dropped the cracker the rest of the way. Lucifer frowned back at her though, having no idea what she was talking about until he looked at his toothbrush, the situation clicking together. He shook his head no before holding up a finger, as if asking her to wait a minute. He then left again, going back into the bedroom, which led to the bath.

She heard sounds of him finishing his teeth brushing and for some reason she waited, maybe for the fact that she was caught and felt running would make it worse, plus she rather not get stepped on trying to get back to her hiding spot. She still thought he had rabies however, which to her explained his weird behavior that she saw. He acted like no human she ever saw before, likely because he wasn't a human. Of course she wasn't aware of that though, she figured he was just a weird guy that had rabies.

Lucifer came back pretty quick, toothbrush gone and mouth clean of toothpaste. "No child I don't have rabies, I do however seem to have a thief. " He stated, not sounding too pleased in that as he walked over to grab the fallen partial roll that he didn't eat a single cracker out of. He didn't much like children in the first place, tiny children got a small bit of lead way, but that lead way was offset by her stealing from him, which he really didn't appreciate. Sure enough when he picked the roll up, numerous crackers inside were broken, making him sigh as he placed it back on the bar table, but away from her.

The girl backed away as he got closer, before moving to hide behind the box. "I'm s-sorry mister, I was just so hungry and you left the box in that bag. " He saw a tiny hand point towards a plastic grocery bag on the further end of the table. "Please don't give me rabies, y-you can have the crackers back. " She added, slowly peeking over the edge of the box to peer up at him. He didn't look all too happy understandably, but she hoped he would understand they were just crackers and she meant no harm.

When she kept saying he had rabies though, he scoffed. "Oh for the love of- I don't have rabies! I was brushing my teeth. As for the crackers, I can't say I care about them as much as the principle of someone stealing from me in the first place. " He replied, his tone was firm, annoyed even as he used one hand to slide the box aside, revealing the child behind it. Of course, unlike most people that stole from him, he didn't plan on hurting her, he just wanted to give her a good scare.

The child squeaked worriedly, stepping back slowly and wrapping her arms around herself in a defensive manner. "I'm r-really sorry I just... I needed those crackers. " She told him, almost as if something else was the motivation, not just because she was hungry. But Lucifer paid it no mind right now and narrowed his eyes at her, debating on what to do about this exactly. "A-are you going to s-squish me? " The little one asked, her voice softening with a new layer of nervousness.

Lucifer was a little taken aback by that, quirking one eyebrow in thought. But no he wasn't murderous, which was what it would be basically. "No, I'm not that angry. " He sighed, this wasn't easy. If she was a adult and full size he'd scare her out of here with a good view of his red eyes or something, but with her being so little and young, it was hard to be mean, even for him. But he didn't want to let her go scott free either.

"A-are you... going to e-eat me? " The tiny girl asked, squeaking even higher pitched that time, seeming to be even more scared of that than the last thing she asked about. Granted, he had devoured people before, either tinies or those he shrunk, but it wasn't usually for punishment, more so it was convenience and... protection, though he didn't want to admit the second one to himself right now. Still, she had planted the seed in his head, probably not the best idea for her to do. "Perhaps I will, perhaps I won't~ I haven't decided, though I must say it's not a awful idea~ " His voice gained a teasing, playful tone now, not sounding angry anymore but she didn't like the sound of it either, especially with the wicked grin that followed.

Before anything could happen though, Lucifer's phone rang in his pocket. "Oh bloody Hell... " he muttered, reaching into his robe pocket to retrieve the device. After checking to see who it was, he answered it. "Detective? " There was a woman's voice on the other side, however to anyone but Lucifer it was hard to hear what she was saying. "Alright I'll be there. " He replied after she was done talking, before the call ended and he put the phone on standby, placing it on the bar table for now. "I suppose I'll have to come back for you later~ There's someone else more in need of punishing... "

The child was thankful for the phone call, it seeming to have saved her from replacing the crackers she took. Though his words rattled her a bit... would he really eat her? She heard people with rabies could do some pretty aggressive, brutal things and while he denied having rabies she couldn't help but keep the thought in mind. With her being only 8 in age, it was no wonder her mind thought of such wild things, after all she did bring up eating her first. So she supposed she'd have to blame herself for that one.

She watched him leave back to his bedroom, likely to get dressed. Normally someone in her position would flee the whole place, leave the man's home and never return. But... for some reason, she didn't. Instead she ended up finding a few closed bottles of alcohol that wasn't properly put up and hid herself among them after grabbing the three crackers she had out, so she was out of sight if or when he returned. It was very dangerous to stay clearly, but in her mind, she had no choice, she just had to stay hidden and out of sight, maybe Lucifer will forget about her and be too focused on other stuff.

Lucifer returned dressed in his fancy three piece suit, black and royal purple in color with matching dress pants and his usual red bottomed dress shoes. He glanced to where the crackers were, the three loose ones were gone, the child was gone but everything else was just as he left it. The Devil didn't expect to ever see her again, he gave her the scare he wanted when he hinted at devouring her. He didn't see her hiding among his bottles, he was sort of in a hurry to help Chloe on the next case for today anyway, the one person he would actually hurry for. So he grabbed his phone and stepped into the elevator, leaving the penthouse.

Lucifer drove to the crime scene where Chloe gave him a 'about time' look and held up the police tape, letting him duck under it while she followed. "Apologies detective, I had a thief in my penthouse this morning. " He said, shaking his head and adjusting his suit from the movement. "Why didn't you call the police? " Chloe asked, though deep down she sort of knew. He liked handling stuff on his own unless he couldn't, then he was more than happy to ask favors of her, much to her annoyance. He laughed to her question though as if it was the most absurd thing he ever heard. "I don't think they make handcuffs quite that small detective. "

She gave him a confused look, before shaking her head as they walked towards the crime scene, asking one last question about Lucifer's problem. " What did they take from you? " She expected something possibly important to him, she had no idea what but his answer certainly wasn't what she expected. "My crackers. " The Devil stated, not seeming to realize how odd that sounded. "Like... Ritz? " She asked, head tilted a little at him as they stood before the body of the murder victim they were all called here for.

Ella must have heard, for she popped up from inspecting the male victim to chime in. "Someone stole your crackers? Oh man, I'm so sorry, that really sucks. Cracker thieves are the worst. Wait, no, ice cream thieves, they're even worse. " The shorter woman stated, making Chloe roll her eyes, she didn't need Ella encouraging Lucifer's antics. "Not quite so mundane as Ritz but yes. " He agreed with Ella on that, though he wasn't a big ice cream eater he didn't want that stolen from him either.

"Someone lost something here much more important than crackers and ice cream, can we focus on that now? " Chloe asked in a snappy voice to try and get her partner and the forensic scientist back on track, on the case. "Right right, of course, sorry. " Ella stated, hands waving around a little as she got herself back into the game. Lucifer didn't say anything but didn't protest either, instead both him and Chloe listened as Ella explained what she knew about the victim. The case went on as per usual, it wasn't a very exciting one except for one small part no one understood yet and that was motive.

Without motive it was hard to decide exactly who did it, they thought the wife might have but there was no evidence against her. The victim wasn't a sweet guy, in fact he was stealing from the family under their noses and then cheating on the wife with another woman. But she had no idea of any of this until Chloe told her, hoping to spark a confession but instead they got a crying, devastated woman. Lucifer sighed and left the room, not wanting to deal with a crying human right now while Chloe tried to provide some comfort, but she was at a disadvantage of not wanting to speak ill of the dead.

Lucifer paced in the other room, one hand on his hip and the other hand starting at his forehead, wiping down his face as he waited for the detective to be done so they could get back to it. As he was pacing, a young woman in her early 20s walked by in a brisk, angry pace, going upstairs but otherwise ignoring Lucifer entirely. He wasn't sure what that was about but didn't feel like finding out. After a few minutes he heard the crying quiet down, it seemed Chloe was doing something right. In a way it was probably good Lucifer left the room, he was more likely to make it worse than to make it better so the detective didn't complain too much. She walked out of the room and headed towards the front door, Lucifer following behind in just a few long strides to keep up with her brisk pace.

They both got into her car and started driving back to the police department, though it was getting late, they'd have to call it a day soon. Before Chloe even got to the department though, her phone rang. She was driving and didn't want to risk an accident, so she glanced at Lucifer, who was doing nothing except looking amusingly cramped a bit in the seat because of his freakishly long legs. "Lucifer, mind seeing who that is? " She asked him just as she had to react defensively to someone running a red light. "Damn it. " She muttered, gritting her teeth after she had to slam on the breaks. "Late night drivers, am I right? " The Devil said sarcastically, scoffing as he reached for her phone, looking at the screen to see what it said.

Someone honked their horn behind her so she stepped on the gas to get rolling once the light was green again. "The phone says it's from home? " He said out loud, tilting his head in confusion. "It might be Trixie, or Olga, please answer it and see what the problem is. " Part of her expected Lucifer to refuse, since it had something to do with Trixie and he was a self proclaimed disliker of children. Mazikeen was out bounty hunting so she had to hire her babysitter to keep a eye on Trixie. To the detective's surprise, Lucifer did answer it, bringing the phone up to his ear. He didn't say anything, but heard some ruckus in the background as a woman with a older sounding, rough voice answered.

"You coming home soon? Dark skinned woman came in with knives, started showing Beatrice knife moves, kitchen knives in roof now. " The woman said, sounding a bit distressed as the Devil heard his demon say something in the background that he couldn't quite make out. "What's the problem? " Chloe asked, glancing at him for a moment as she hit another red light. "Well, apparently Maze returned and something about knives in the ceiling. " He told her after putting the phone to his chest, then he brought it back up to answer her. "Right, well, ma'am I assure you Maze knows exactly what she's doing, everything will be-" He began but the woman cut him off. "Who is strange man? I call Chloe Decker. " The detective heard that one and answered quick. "Just tell her I will be there, we're going now. " She told him, realizing her babysitter and Lucifer never met and it might not be so bad for them to, if the Devil will behave.

Lucifer gave a displeased look, he didn't want to go to the detective's house during chaos, but he supposed he was stuck in her car and he didn't want to walk... "The det-Chloe says she's coming home now. " He responded to the phone, not sounding too thrilled but Chloe was thankful he didn't make too much of a fuss. Though she suspected he might after the phone call was over. "Good, thank you strange man. " Olga responded, then hanging up before Lucifer could say anything. He stared at the phone for a moment with his mouth open, a little miffed to be cut off without a word but there wasn't much he could do about it. "I suppose that means you'll be dragging me into this? " He asked, shifting his legs again to try and get comfortable. "I don't have time to drop you off at Lux, you can stay in the car if you must though. " Chloe took a turn now, going straight home and deciding she would call Pierce and explain what happened later.

Lucifer sighed, crossing his arms loosely over his chest. He wasn't thrilled but again, didn't have a whole lot of options. "Very well detective. " He replied, sounding reluctant but for whatever reason he went along with it. Chloe wasn't about to push her luck and kept driving, more worried about Olga and her daughter, that demon kept teaching her such bad habits, it made Chloe nervous, Dan too but he was busy. It took about twenty minutes to get there, but to the mother it felt like hours, her mind filled with dreadful, awful scenes of what she might see when she opened her door.

Chloe pulled up and parked her car, turning the engine off and pulling her keys out. She didn't say a word as she opened her door and stepped out of the car, but made note of Lucifer doing the same. She thought he'd stay in the car but again, she wasn't going to bother arguing with him too. If he behaved himself he won't hurt anything being there, with any luck he might even somehow help. She opened her door slowly, only to be greeted by the red haired older woman, her bag packed and ready to leave. "Oh good, you here, me gone now. " She said in a relieved tone, pushing past Chloe and narrowly missing Lucifer who backed up with his hands up by his upper chest, almost as if to defend himself. She didn't say a word to the Devil or even stop, she just went straight for her car, wanting nothing to do with what happened in that house.

Meanwhile, Beatrice and Mazikeen were in the kitchen, the demon leaning on the counter, looking annoyed, while the child looked guilty. Chloe looked up as she put her keys aside, seeing the 5 large kitchen knives stuck in the roof, too high for her to reach, then a few small ones in various walls. "Maze... what happened here? " The detective asked, hands on her hip as the tall man entered the house, standing behind her and taking in the scene as well. "I was teaching her." The dark skinned woman responded, her voice sounding bored and blunt, as if she was annoyed by Chloe just being here and asking about this. She then got off the kitchen counter and went to the nearest knife in the wall, ripping it out. "With real knives? And how did they get up there? " She asked, pointing up at the five just dangling there, likely so deep that someone will have to get on a ladder or something to take them down.

Mazikeen shrugged as she swirled a knife around in their hand. "More training, you never know when you'll have to throw a knife up without hitting yourself in the head. " Before Chloe could answer, Maze's phone rang and she got it out of her pocket. "Ohh another bounty~ See you later Decker. " With a smirk the demon walked out of the human's home, ignoring Lucifer for now but leaving the three with the mess. " I'm sorry mommy... " Trixie spoke up, shyly wringing her hands. "I was working on your mommy's day gift when Maze came in and... " She trailed off, looking at her feet in shame. Chloe sighed, doing her best to stay calm as she walked up to her child, crouching down and gently taking ahold of her shoulders to get her attention.

However, something the child said caught Lucifer's attention. "What's this about 'mommy's day'? Is it your birthday detective~? " The Devil asked, a certain mischievous glee in his voice that promised something she wanted nothing to do with. Chloe sighed again, having forgotten about him until now. "No, it's mother's day, a holiday for... mothers. Check the calendar. " She didn't really have time to satisfy his curiosity about the holiday. "Listen monkey, you can't throw knives around, alright? It's very dangerous, no matter what Maze says. She's a trained adult, I don't want you getting hurt. " She explained to her child, keeping her tone calm but clearly displeased and worried.

"I didn't throw the knives mommy, that was all Maze. " She explained, glancing at her toy, fake demon blades in bright, neon colors on the ground. "I just repeated it with those but they bounced off the wall. " Trixie added, pointing at the fake, harmless blades. The blonde mother relaxed a bit, that was a little better at least... except that meant Maze did all of this. However Lucifer was still stuck on the mother's day thing and spoke up yet again. "Why have a day dedicated to mothers? It's their choice to procreate and they deal with all the taxing burdens that come with it, including control of their child. " He shook his head, tucking his hands into his coat pockets. "It's to show how much you love your mommy though, for all the care and love they give! " Trixie told the confused Devil, while Chloe stood up to pull the other knives out of the wall that she could reach.

"You mean how much they restrict you from having fun? " Lucifer commented afterwards, scoffing and giving a sarcastic chuckle. Chloe effectively ignored him and just put the knives up. "Let me call Pierce so he knows what happened, it's plenty late already anyway. Lucifer I'm sorry you might-" She was about to tell him that he'd likely have to walk home, because she couldn't leave her daughter alone and plus she wanted to try and get those knives down. But before she could, the door opened again, revealing a Daniel stepping in, but pausing to see Lucifer. "Oh... uh, Chloe, what's going on? " He wasn't thinking anything odd between Chloe and Lucifer but he was wondering why everyone was here. He had texted Chloe earlier to let her know he would come by and relieve the babysitter before taking over until Chloe got home, but apparently with Lucifer in charge of her phone, he didn't see it.

"Oh Dan, you're here. Um... " Chloe ran a hand through her hair, while Lucifer glanced up at the knives. "Mainly it was that. " He pointed, Dan following the direction and taking a step back. "What the Hell? How did those get there? " the male detective asked, making sure he was not under them in case they fell. "Maze threw them up there, we don't have any way to get them down right now, I have to get a ladder from a store tomorrow. " Chloe explained while Trixie took the moment to go to her room quietly so she wouldn't get in trouble hopefully, leaving the adults to deal with the situation. "Great... " Dan sighed, hands on his hips now. "I have to drive Lucifer home, I'll be right back, can you watch Trixie until I'm done? " Chloe asked her ex while she grabbed her phone, dialing Pierce's number.

Lucifer grinned with glee on that, looking to Daniel. "Looks like you saved me a trip on foot all the way back to Lux~ Good on you. " He jokingly praised Dan, already pleased with himself that Chloe will be driving him home, maybe he could get her to stay for a bit but given what happened here, that wasn't too likely. She didn't stay at Lux much anymore in fact. Dan sighed to Lucifer, not really having any words for that, he decided to just answer Chloe. "Alright fine, yeah I can watch her. " He wasn't thrilled about the reason but he was already here, he might as well watch his own daughter to make sure nothing else went wrong. "Thanks Dan. " The detective then started to ring the number, putting the phone to her ear as she waited for him to answer.

Dan let out another breath, deciding to head to Trixie's room to see how she's doing, while Lucifer stayed with Chloe, also awaiting for the call to actually begin. When someone picked up the line after about 30 seconds, Lucifer listened in on the call just long enough for him to tell if it was actually the Lieutenant and after that he sort of tuned the discussion out. Lucifer then turned and opened the front door, stepping out of the apartment and heading back towards Chloe's car to wait for her there. The conversation on the phone was quick, as Chloe didn't want to hear Lucifer complaining this late, in fact she wanted nothing more than to drop the Devil off, go home and rest until morning. The knives didn't seem like they'd be going anywhere, they could stay there until she could get a ladder after work.

Once the call was over, she looked around, wondering where he went yet again. "Where did he go now... " She muttered, deciding to head outside and check her car first, as it seemed to make the most sense. Though with Lucifer involved, making sense wasn't exactly a given. Thankfully though tonight he seemed to just be in the passenger seat, waiting for her, hassle free, or as hassle free as he got that is. She opened the driver car door and stepped down inside, putting the keys in and turning it to start the car. "You know my car is still at the police department. " Lucifer mentioned once she got settled. That was after all why he didn't have it with him, since they took off together in one and didn't really expect this child issue and by now it was too late to bother getting back into the case, as much as Chloe wanted to she knew she couldn't stay up too late, running herself out would not help.

"Want me to take you there instead? " She didn't think about that, not with all that she had to deal with, the woman's plate was so full she wasn't thinking all too clearly. But she wouldn't care either way, not that she wanted to be mean but she just wanted to get rid of him so she could rest after making dinner, a dinner that didn't require any large knives. "Unless you want to be my Uber for now on. " He jokingly answered, smug and annoying as ever. She sighed and backed out, taking that as a yes as she turned out onto the road. She didn't mind going to the police station instead, it wasn't much of a difference and it made sense he wanted to get his car back so he could drive himself.

She was just about to remind herself he was an adult, only for him to be messing with the seat of her car, trying to get it to slide back so he'd have more leg room but without success. "Bloody Hell, what is wrong with this seat? " He fussed, not realizing the reason the seat wasn't moving was because it was already as far back as it goes. Chloe laughed a bit, it was hard to not find a little bit of enjoyment in Lucifer's very mild suffering. "The seat is as far back as it goes Lucifer, please don't break the lever off. " She was still doing payments on this car, she didn't need her partner damaging it because he didn't have enough legroom. Thankfully he stopped to her words with a sigh, leaning back in the seat and shuffling his feet to try and make as much room as possible. "What was this car built for? Midgets? " He asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Doesn't that corvette you drive has even less leg room in it? " She didn't really understand his fussing, maybe he wasn't feeling good or something. "When you're driving it doesn't matter as much detective, not to mention the corvette has style, this... not so much. " Chloe just nodded along, it was too late to reason with him, though she guessed he might have a mild point with the driving part. "Well don't worry we're almost there. " She told him as she flicked on her turn signal to change lanes, but some cars were passing her so she had to wait a bit. Once she was in the desired lane, she drove a few more blocks before pulling into the entrance of the department. Sure enough his car was there among police cars, it stuck out among them but thankfully no one was foolish enough to mess with the Devil's car when it was literally surrounded by police. Chloe pulled up close to the black corvette before putting the car into park. "There you go Lucifer, goodnight and see you tomorrow. " She told him as he opened the door and stepped out of her car.

At first she thought he was just going to close the door and leave without a word, but then he turned around and leaned on the doorframe to duck his head down at her. "Same to you detective and good luck with those knives~ " He said, chuckling a bit before closing the door. Chloe shook her head to that, yes the knives... she'd have to give Maze a talking to she felt. Once Lucifer was safely away from the car she pulled away and turned around, heading home. Lucifer watched her go before getting into the corvette, starting it up next and driving out of the police parking lot. The drive to Lux was peaceful enough, only a few foolish drivers and for LA that wasn't bad.

The Devil parked his car and stepped out, the club having been opened already and people were already having a fun time. But before he got too into the partying, there was something he wanted to check on first. It's been easily all day and he wondered if his penthouse still had a much unwelcome guest. So he went into Lux and weaved through the crowd, the rainbow lights and loud music were numb to his senses as he made a beeline to the elevator to his penthouse above. He stepped inside once the doors slid open, before pressing the lit up arrow pointing up on the panel, causing the doors to slide shut and the elevator started to move upwards. He wasn't sure what he'd see as he tried to remember how he left the scene so he'd know what changed, if anything.

He expected his little bite sized thief to be gone, but when the elevator doors slid open and he stepped out, he saw that almost all of the crackers were gone. Even the rolls that were not open yet, they were empty bags now with some crumbs. "Well well, someone's been busy~ " He stated, his voice oddly gleeful as he walked around to the front of the bar table, seeing the box was still on it's side. He picked it up to see if there were any left inside, only for there to be a odd sounding squeak inside as soon as he lifted it and began to tilt it upright. "I know I didn't buy the squeaking crackers so... " He trailed off, peaking into the box to see what he suspected made the sound.

In the bottom of the box, gripping one last cracker was the child in question, peering up at him with wide, fearful eyes. "Bloody Hell? Why are you still here? " He asked, not understanding why she didn't leave. Before she could answer though he tipped the box into his palm, causing the child to slide out and land on his hand. He then took a few steps back away from the bartable so she couldn't jump off. The girl took a few moments to regain herself, gripping the cracker closer almost like a security blanket. "I-I can't leave... " She told him, little heart fluttering like crazy as his words from this morning replayed in her head. She knew she shouldn't be here, that he'd come home and find her. While she could physically leave, something was keeping her here, but she didn't want to tell him. Little folk were never supposed to talk to the larger people, it never ended well. Heck they were not even supposed to be seen, but she was a child, untrained and reckless.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her though, can't leave? That didn't make any sense. "And why not? Your kind are quite crafty, wiggling your way in and out of anywhere, you got here somehow after all so you can leave the same way. " He wasn't all too pleased, feeling like the child was trying to lie to him and stole from him the whole time he was gone. But he took a breath to relax a little, it wouldn't do any good to get upset, the girl was already terrified and he didn't want to break her, emotionally or physically. Part of him just wanted her gone, but another part of him told himself that there was a reason she was still here, something important, something that he couldn't ignore, at least unless he was as heartless as people said he was.

The tiny figure in his palm trembled, thinking on what she could tell him to placate him, without spilling everything that is. "It's n-not that... It's, um well... " She took a breath, looking down at the lines in the Devil's hand, mainly the heart line. "Yes~? What is it? " She heard him ask, his voice a little sharp, but it didn't sound as upset as before. "It's... I can't l-leave something important t-to me here. " She replied, looking back up at him, trying to control her shaking. He told her this morning he wouldn't crush her, but she had a hard time believing it, plus that was before he came back to see she kept up her theft. But the child had to, or so she believed, she couldn't think of anything else to do.

Lucifer quirked an eyebrow at her, glancing at the bar table again for a moment before switching back to her. "Well where did you last leave it? I'll help you find it, then it's off you go. " He turned to start looking just wherever, his finger curling in a little to cup her in his palm, so he wouldn't accidentally drop her. She let go of the cracker to grasp one of his fingers anyway for security, but also to maybe get his attention. "It's not s-something I lost. " The child really didn't want to say, it was dangerous for her and the thing she was trying to protect. Thankfully her words got him to stop searching to face her again, while the little one tried to come up with some explanation.

"What is it then? Child I must say you're being quiet difficult, it'd be much easier to just eat you at this point if you won't leave. " Lucifer told her, though his tone was softer, not quite so serious and more so just annoyed with feeling like he had to actually figure this out instead of just dealing with it with his jaws. At the mention of eating her though she seemed to get a bit more scared, shifting back away from his gaze, even if she couldn't go too far back, his hand was only so big. "I c-can't tell you... " Well, more like she felt she couldn't tell him, she couldn't take the risk. To her there wasn't much of a difference though.

Still, Lucifer took it as a challenge, mulling over his options on how to get her to tell him. In a few moments he decided the more nice option would be fine, so with a hum he lifted her up to his face, to his eyes. Massive dark brown pools stared into her's, they were almost soul piercing in the way they bared into her. With her being so small it was kinda hard to focus on her eyes, usually he did this on human sized subjects but this will have to do. "Ohh yes you can, it must be something very important, to risk your life staying here. So tell me child, what is it that you desire from here? What is keeping you here? " He asked, his voice dipping down into a deep, coaxing tone, luring and dark.

The girl breaths quickened when he lifted her up, images of a saliva filled mouth flashing in her mind, but instead she was face to eyes with him, something she found kinda odd at first but... Staring into them, she felt this strange feeling wash over her, calming and mind clouding. Coupled that with his questions and his tone of voice, the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. "M-my... my mommy, she's h-hurt and... I c-can't leave her, not after all of what she did for me. S-she needs my help, I g-gather food for her so she can r-recover. We were going to leave once she was able. " Normally her kind, sometimes nicknamed borrowers, were only supposed to take scraps of food and items humans wouldn't notice were missing, but the child wasn't trained very well and went for the easiest thing instead. Hence the crackers she took, it was the only food item she could find that she could bring back.

Lucifer was a bit taken aback by that, leaning his face a few inches back away from her and thus, breaking the trance he put her in. "You risked your life for your mum? Risked my wrath upon you to care for her? " He couldn't understand it, why on Earth would a child do that? Most children he met were greedy, needy little monsters that just took and never gave back or helped out. But... this was different, the roles were switched, the girl threatened her very well being to nurse her mother back to health. This changed everything in Lucifer's mind, granted she was still a thief but she wasn't selfishly doing it, far from. This was a very intriguing situation for him now.

Meanwhile, the girl was horrified, not of him but what she said. She was not supposed to tell him! But somehow he got her to, was it magic? Humans didn't have magic though, but that's what it felt like. "H-how... I wasn't supposed to tell you. " She seemed to ignore his questions, or she's too shocked to answer them. "Please mister, don't hurt my mommy, I promise I won't take anything else ever again, we'll leave as soon as we can. " She rambled out, her words coming out quickly and in a desperate manner as she hoped the Devil, though she didn't know that part, would show mercy.

He scoffed slightly, shaking his head in disbelief. "You already told me she needs time to heal, which means she'll need to eat and while I suspect you both didn't eat that whole box of crackers while I was gone, she will need more food in time. But... relax child, I have no intention of harming your mother. " He assured in the end, after all he really couldn't unless he wanted to tear the place apart looking, as he still had no idea where she was. All he knew was she was somewhere in his penthouse and given she was probably not all that much bigger than her daughter she could almost be anywhere. But not only that, he genuinely didn't have any desire to, after all her mother wasn't the thief.

The girl was stressed while he spoke, hearing nothing reassuring at first besides him pointing out the flaws in her promise, but then in the end he finally said something nice. "R-really? You won't? Thank you so much! But... w-what are you going to do? " She couldn't help but feel there was a but somewhere, he seemed so upset earlier it seemed unlikely he'd just drop everything now. But what would he do was the question, did he want payment for what she stole? She didn't really have anything to pay him back with, all she could really do was return the crackers she already took that they had hidden.

Lucifer mulled over the question in his head, it was a reasonable one and normally the Devil would ask for for something in return, but they were just crackers in the end, he could get more no problem. It wasn't exactly like he was hurting for money, given how fancy the place was and his fancy suits and everything else. " Given I have a injured guest in my penthouse apparently, I suppose I should be a good host and give my guests a better room. Now where is your mum hiding at? " The Devil asked, since he couldn't really do anything for her until he found out where she was. Depending on what was injured on her, he might be able to set up something nicer for recovery too, he wasn't told why the child's mother was injured, nor where. Granted Lucifer was not a charity Devil but if it was easy enough he might do it.

The girl however didn't look all that thrilled about giving the information, picking up the cracker again and holding it up in front of her, almost as if a shield. "I-I shouldn't tell you... " She told him, shaking her head and hiding her face behind the cracker so she couldn't see his eyes. Maybe if she didn't look into his eyes she could keep it to herself. It seemed keeping secrets from this man was harder than normal, for some strange reason. Granted hiding behind a edible shield was not a good idea, especially when she too was edible, if Lucifer's earlier words were to be taken seriously. But the child didn't trust him, not yet, if he had to devour her for not telling him, well she wouldn't be happy but she'd try to accept it, for her mother.

Lucifer hummed, amused and surprised from the child's reaction. He wasn't opposed to the challenge but it was late and he'd like to get to bed somewhat soon, still he also didn't want to try and reason with this child only for her to still not tell him and he'd be back to square one... "Very well, I will look for her myself. " It might be a little harsh, what Lucifer was about to do, but he felt that it was justified given everything, with the theft and now she doesn't want to help him help her mother. With that said Lucifer opened his mouth, lowering the girl down from his eyes to his lips. His tongue slowly came out of his jaws, the tip curling under the cracker she was hiding behind and gently pulling it away from her. Given the size and muscle difference, the girl had no chance at overpowering his tongue and instead she seemed to let the cracker go, probably to avoid being pulled in with it.

Lucifer closed his lips after pulling the cracker into his mouth, chewing it up like he normally would, especially given this was one of the few crackers he will get from his own box. With ease the girl's shield had been chewed up and eaten by the Devil, his pearly white ivory teeth making quick work of it in literally just a few crunching seconds before he swallowed. He made sure to fish out any food bits with his tongue and swallow them too, wanting this trip to be mostly clean and not unpleasant for her. With it just being one cracker it shouldn't bother her that much, but that didn't mean he couldn't have fun with this as a whole.

The child gasped as the powerful, slimy muscle stole her shield, pulling it into the cave that was Lucifer's mouth before his lips shut. With a squeak she shuffled back away from him, but bumped into his curled fingers sooner than she hoped. With her only line of defence now a mere snack, not even that but a part of a snack, the girl felt building dread inside, worried that she would be next. She had to let go so she didn't get pulled in with it, but maybe all she did was delay the inevitable. She still refused to say where her mother was hiding though, even as she wondered how her mother will recover without her help... Maybe the crackers will be enough but what if it wasn't? But still, telling him was a much bigger risk, he could just turn around and eat them both for all she knew.

When Lucifer opened up his mouth again, it was mostly clean, his tongue and saliva doing a good job in getting the cracker bits out. Despite him not telling her so, the Devil wasn't going to hurt her, he wasn't that heartless plus he wasn't a killer in general. But with the fuss she gave him he figured a good scare was in order while he tucked her out of the way, safely in his belly. As much as the girl tried to avoid it, there wasn't many places she could go on his hand as his tongue slipped under her and curled back, effectively scooping her up and drawing her inside of his jaws. "W-wait!" she called out, but it fell on deaf ears seemed like. With a deep pleased hum, he closed his mouth behind her, making sure all of her limbs were out of the way of his teeth before shutting them next. The content Devil lowered the hand that used to hold her, instead casually leaning on the bar table.

The girl expected a fate similar to the cracker, but that's thankfully not what happened. In fact... the way he acted, she'd almost go as far as to say he was intentionally trying not to hurt her. His tongue nudged her hand off one tooth and her foot off another before they clicked together. That... wasn't normal, but she was glad for it as she curled up in the center of Lucifer's tongue. She wanted to speak, ask him why he was seemingly eating her but also not, but she didn't want to accidentally change his mind. The child was scared, but given the... odd gentleness of the situation, she couldn't help but feel something was off, which gave her hope that somehow maybe this will work out.

Even Lucifer noticed a slight lack of her freaking out, he supposed that was a good thing but still, it wasn't quite expected. She was shaking like the leaf in the wind, yes, curled up in a perfectly swallowable ball of child, but there was no pleading or yelling or shoving. He wasn't going to complain, not that he could anyway with his mouth full but he still found it odd. He was too tired to worry about it though, no he had two basic goals, swallow the two females hiding in his home and keep them safe within his stomach, then go to bed so he could help Chloe finish this case. He was about to be half finished with goal number one as he nudged the small, delicious cracker thief to the back of his throat with his tongue. It earned him a surprised, nervous squeak, tiny hands attempting to grab his tongue and hold onto it so she couldn't be swallowed.

But it was so slick, slimy and soft, her little hands couldn't get any kind of grip. Lucifer took a firm gulp then, powerful throat muscles gently pulling her down inside. With there being nothing hard inside of the Devil besides his teeth and of course bones but they were hidden, the whole process was a pretty soft one. Though the muscles were powerful enough to squish her if he wasn't careful, it felt more like a somewhat tight, squishy water slide down his throat. She was still curled up and it was a bit too tight to adjust. Still she figured that she could uncurl once... once she was in his stomach, which she wasn't sure what to expect once in there. She knew being eaten was usually a bad thing, something she should avoid and she tried to, she just didn't succeed. But with Lucifer being as gentle as he was, it really wasn't that bad so far.

The content Devil found himself licking his lips, tasting a hint of the seasoning that was on the crackers she was holding on her followed with her basic flavor. He felt the little lump inside of him slide down deeper and deeper, his right ringed hand resting on his middle as he waited to move until she was inside of his stomach. Soon the tight feeling vanished somewhere around the base of his ribs, followed with a small weight in his stomach. Pleased with his work, he gave a light pat to his middle, before getting up off the bar table. "There we go, one down, one to go. Now where could mother dearest be~? "He said, mostly to himself as dark brown eyes scanned the room, thinking of the best places for people their size to hide. She was injured enough that she couldn't safely gt her own food so he suspected that must mean she was both away from his kitchen and probably hiding somewhere low to the floor.

Meanwhile, the girl in his belly was a bit surprised. There was a light in here, white and reflecting off the slime covered walls of the pink stomach. She was no biology expert but she was pretty sure that wasn't normal... It was comforting though, it wasn't overly bright, in fact it was more like a nightlight. It was another form of proof that this man wasn't normal, so what was he? She never even knew there was any other humanoid creature in the world besides her kind and humans, but he was neither. She wasn't sure where the cracker went, but the stomach was surprisingly clean and didn't even smell bad, it was just a pink... squishy, slimy cave that made occasional scary noises. She uncurled from her ball and carefully crawled to the nearest wall for stability, though the whole chamber was softly flexing and expanding , then closing a little with each breath Lucifer made. She had to admit it wasn't that uncomfortable, if only this happened to not be a stomach, it would have been a decent hiding spot.

To Lucifer though, he saw no reason why it couldn't be a hiding spot, in fact that's exactly what he had planned for them. The mother could rest up more comfortably and safely in his belly and to him it was a win win, he got a delicious snack and he'd be able to have them leave sooner once mom was better. Then they got a safe, cozy bed that was much more comfortable than anything in his penthouse they could be using, plus he didn't say so but he planned to feed them himself, they were tiny they couldn't eat that much he reasoned, but this way they wouldn't be creeping around his home stealing stuff. Before he went searching, he decided to ask the child one last time to see if she'll tell him where her mother is. "I don't suppose you'd tell me where your mum is now, will you? So we may solve this much easier~? " He asked, his voice a little teasing as he gave a gentle rub to his middle.

The child figured he would ask but the answer was the same. "N-no, I don't k-know what you're up t-to, but I won't tell you. " She replied stubbornly, her loyalty to her mother was quite firm in that regard and she wasn't about to tell the Devil just so he could eat her too. Then again, if she better knew his plan to take care of them for a little bit, she might have told him. But right now she had no idea what he was planning, she didn't think he wanted to hurt them, not after having devoured her so nicely and with his stomach being as gentle and seemingly safe as it was. But it didn't mean she was going to have her mom get eaten too without even being sure of it.

The Devil let out a sigh to the child's stubbornness. "Very well, it's a shame I can't see you, I'd draw the truth out that way~ But regardless I can look for my own invaders. Based on what you already told me, I have a pretty good idea... " His private library, the bookshelves went to the floor, the girls could be hiding down there, between or behind the books. So Lucifer started walking over to the library, which was just on the right side of the elevator, or left, depending on which way one looked at it. Dress shoes clicked on the hard floor as he walked around his desk and black leather chair, before crouching down and scanning the lowest shelf. At first, everything looked just right, if he wasn't purposely searching, he could have easily overlooked it. But then he saw it, one of his crackers was tucked between two books, almost out of sight but not quite.

Lucifer grinned, finding the whole thing sort of clever, if only the child didn't get caught stealing from him, twice, they might have gotten away with it. He grabbed the two books on each side of the cracker, slowly pulling them out and setting them aside on the floor. Behind it revealed pretty much everything, stacks of the rest of his crackers were back there, alongside a woman, resting on her back with her leg wrapped in a bloody rag, wait bloody? That must be her injury. Lucifer at first thought she was asleep and it almost seemed like she was in a light sleep, but she stirred regardless of whatever she was in. "Lilly... is that you...? " She asked, her eyes slowly opening afterwards and looking over to see a face much too handsome and much too big to be her daughter. "Not quite darling~ " He responded, cheeky grin and all.

Lilly... that must be the name of the little morsel in his belly, it wasn't a bad name. The mother gasped and jolted up, but soon winced when pain undoubtedly shot through her leg. "Dang it... Are you Lucifer Morningstar? " She asked while cradling her injured leg with her hands, much to the Devil's surprise. How did she know who he was? He didn't really have his name listed anywhere in the penthouse unless she read his mail or something. "I am indeed... how do you know that? Do we know each other? " He asked, tilting his head with slightly narrowed eyes. He couldn't tell what was wrong with her leg too well, but it must be somewhat fresh as the blood was still red and wet. The woman gave a tired laugh, slowly shifting to sit up and get a better look at him. "No, we never met, but I heard of you. I wasn't sure what you looked like, but the description of you was distinct. The man that owned the high class nightclub, Lux and spoke with a British accent. I figured there was only so many British people around here like that. "

Lucifer hummed, slowly giving a agreed nod to that. "Right... and what is your name? " He asked, feeling at a slight disadvantage that she knew his name but not the other way around. He felt the child shift a bit in his stomach, she didn't say anything but she moved to the front, possibly to try and listen to the discussion. "Sarah... Sarah Burton. Listen, I don't know if you're really the Devil or not, but I know what you do... You have eaten our kind before, I suspect that's what you're going to do now, right? " She asked, preferring to cut to the chase, well, skipping the chase too since she was in no condition to run but regardless she didn't want to beat around the bush, she knew what was going to happen. "Yes indeed, it's only fair given your daughter stole from me. " Lucifer was a bit taken aback she knew all this already, but he supposed it made sense when he went around and gobbled up quite a few of her kind somewhat recently, then coughed them back up. Rumors and stories spread about it, even if he wasn't actively hunting them, he happened across them more often than he should.

When he mentioned stealing, Sarah sighed again. "I didn't think you threw these away... they are too fresh. " She said, gesturing to the crackers stacked around her. "I'm sorry Lilly took these from you... I tried to tell her we don't steal, we take what people already don't want. But she is so worried about me... " Lucifer found it odd the mother didn't seem to mind the fact he more or less admitted he either already ate her daughter or was going to. She must have noticed his confused look and smiled. " I know you're not going to hurt us, that's why I brought us here after that... that rat bit my leg. Lilly never had to gather food on her own until now, I felt someone who already dealt with our kind before and didn't hurt them was safer than some... human that would smash us with a broom because they mistook us for mice. I figured... worst comes the worst, you'll eat us both, especially with Lilly being so reckless, it was only the matter of time before you caught her, I didn't want my baby getting hurt and hoped you wouldn't harm her. "

It took some time for Lucifer to wrap his head around her train of thought but... he supposed it made some basic sense. "Well that's a buzzkill, half the fun is when they don't know~ " He said in a disappointed tone, but he supposed there wasn't anything he could do about it now. Sarah laughed tiredly to his complaining. "Trust me I wanted to not get caught by you, but I had to take into consideration it was likely going to happen. If not you, it'd be someone else and we wouldn't get a second chance. " She explained, adjusting her leg carefully with a hiss of pain. Lucifer had to give her points for thinking realistically, almost everyone got caught in everything at least once, all it took was one slip up. "Anyway, there's no point in delaying and I'm not going anywhere so... Do what you're going to do. " Sarah added, waving her hand at him in a 'go on' gesture.

She wasn't looking forward to getting covered in drool and swallowed down like a very large pill, but she heard the stories from others, the came back unharmed and most had the best rest in his stomach than they had anywhere else. She really needed the rest, the stress relief and the cushion, sleeping in a bookcase was none of these things. She had a good feeling that Lucifer already devoured Lilly, so the mother felt the urge to comfort her daughter, explain to her that everything will be alright, but also scold her for stealing from the Devil, that was not okay and she wanted to make sure her child knew that. They were lucky to have found Lux and Sarah knew about it, she wasn't sure what they were going to do otherwise. There wasn't really many safe havens for the little folk left, especially in the big city. Calling Lux a safe haven wasn't really the most accurate, but for a lack of a better term it was the best she knew was nearby.

Lucifer gave a pleased smirk, even if the surprise was spoiled it didn't mean it wasn't any fun at all. Plus and while he wasn't going to admit this out loud, there was benevolent reasons to go through with it as well that he wasn't going to dismiss. "As you desire~ " He said in a deep, teasing tone as he slowly reached into the bookcase with one hand, moving some of the stacks of crackers aside to make room for his hand. Long fingers curled under her slowly, the shifting of her body was not pleasant but Sarah held her tongue, he was doing the best he could and it was a awkward angle, so she had to cut him some slack. She was a bit bigger than Lilly but she still fit comfortably in his palm once she slid down off his fingers.

Despite his Devilish claims, Sarah could tell there was a certain level of carefulness he had when handling her that she wasn't familiar with, but was thankful for. Her leg couldn't handle much more abuse and the pain was not fun. What he did, or more so said next was even more surprising as he cupped her to his chest and slowly stood up. "We should get your wound cleaned and properly dressed first. " He spoke, his voice rumbling through his chest as the smell of his cologne filled her nose. "You don't have to d-" Sarah started to tell him, not wanting to push their luck and wear out their welcome. But she was interrupted by him as he walked back to the bar table. "I don't have to, but I rather not have you die in me from an infection, then I'll be stuck with a upset bite sized orphan. " He tried to brush off his thoughtfulness with selfish claims, as he often did whenever he at last did think about others.

Sarah sighed, figuring there was no arguing with someone who could carry you in one hand. "Alright fine... " Plus she was just a bit too tired to make a fuss, leaning back against his fingers as her foot rested by his wrist. With Lucifer's free hand, he grabbed a table cloth and laid it out on the counter, before carefully placing the woman down onto it. The Devil then walked around the other side, ducking down and grabbing a small plastic red box with a white cross on it, placing it a foot or so away from her and opening it up. It had basic medical supplies, band-aids, wipes, tweezers and some other stuff. He grabbed a finger band-aid, figuring it would work good for a teeny tiny leg, then a q-tip before turning and grabbing a random glass bottle off the bar rack filled with clear alcohol.

Meanwhile, inside of his stomach, Lilly couldn't hear what most of what her mother said, but she heard Lucifer's side of everything, his voice vibrating and rumbling all around her, it made it impossible not to hear. She couldn't quite tell what happened but it sounded... good? Especially when he mentioned helping her mother's wound. Maybe this man wasn't so mean and scary as he tried to be. At first she was disappointed he found her mother so easily, but if he would help her then she guessed that was a good thing, better than nothing. The question still remained of what would happen to her in here, if anything? It seemed that if her mom knew she was in danger she wouldn't let this man touch her, but it sounded like she did.

Lucifer dipped the q-tip into the bottle, the cotton soaking up the alcohol, before he grabbed the pair of tweezers, using it to help untie the old bandage and reveal the wound. it was certainly a bite and a pretty nasty one, redness was around the wound as a scab tried to form over it. He'd have to wreck the scab but it'd be worth it to clean the germs out. Carefully he bent down, looming over her as he touched the wet cotton swab to her leg, which proved to both hurt like Hell, but that meant it was also getting in there and cleaning it out.

Sarah gasped in pain from the burning sensation, but she knew it was needed. Her hands gripped the towel below her almost as hard as she could, clenching her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut as Lucifer cleaned the wound. It was more painful than the bite itself, but she didn't tell him to stop, she just did her best to bear through it until he was done, which while was only around a minute, to her it felt like forever. "Apologies darling, I'm almost done. " She heard him say, warm breath washing over her since his face was right above her. But the warmth was a small comfort as pain shot through her entire body, a pained high voiced gasp coming out of her later as she tried to keep herself together.

Thankfully, just as she was starting to not be able to take it too much more, he stopped. "Alright time to get it covered. " He stated, placing the cotton swab aside and picking up the finger band-aid. it still burned but without the swab it was a little more bearable, though when she saw the band-aid she sighed. "Seriously? " She asked sharply, mostly because the pain put her in a bad mood. "It's the only thing we have love, I'm afraid it will just have to do for now. It is better than that bloody rag you had on it. " The Devil had a point she guessed... plus there wasn't much she could do about it if he wanted to put a band-aid on her.

Lucifer lifted her leg carefully to slide the band-aid under it, with the pad facing the wound. His days of playing the piano had paid off, giving him accurate and careful fingers as they worked to fold the ends over each other without making it too tight and causing problems later. Moving her leg at all hurt, but the pads of his fingers were gentle and she knew there was only so much he could do. Still it had to be better now than it was before. "These band-aids claim to be waterproof~ I wonder if they're saliva proof. * The Devil stated in a sarcastic tone, while they both knew band-aids were never waterproof, but it might hold enough to keep germs out.

Sarah gave a tired laugh, but she didn't have the energy in her to respond, she just wanted to see her child safe and sound, then rest for awhile. Lucifer gave her a bittersweet smile briefly, before tossing the band-aid wrappings in a small trash can under the bar table, along with the cotton swab. "Alright, I believe it's someone's bedtime~ " The Devil announced, gently scooping the woman back up again, this time having a easier time with such a better angle to do it with. Sarah wrapped a arm around his pinky finger, giving it a squeeze as a sort of pain relief as she pulled her leg up onto his palm, giving a lazy smile to show she wasn't mad at him, just tired and hurt.

Lucifer saw no reason to delay, so he lifted her up closer to his mouth, slowly opening his jaws by his wrist. The sight was not a comforting one, powerful dangerous teeth lined the cavern filled with drool, but the tongue was not so bad as it slid under her and with the help of his hand, he eased her inside feet first. With her size he couldn't quite close his mouth entirely without hurting her, so he just had to swallow once her feet touched his throat. He tried to go slow and as gentle as he could, his muscles in his neck cradling her injured leg alongside her good one, while her head and shoulders cleared his front teeth.

The woman's world tipped a bit as Lucifer leaned his head back, to straighten the trip down his gullet as he took the second swallow, which was more than enough to get her down. Sarah kept still the whole time, not wanting to make him choke or cough. Oddly enough even with her hurt leg being held in slimy muscles, it didn't hurt that badly, no more than it already did by just existing. When the second swallow came, she was surprised that it pulled her pretty much entirely inside, light from the penthouse being sealed off as he closed his lips and she slid down his throat, losing all sight of his mouth entirely pretty quick. She heard the Devil's large lungs at work, one on each side of her as she passed by, before slipping deeper and deeper. The mother hoped that she would be able to slide into his stomach without too much trouble.

Thankfully it was at an angle, so instead of just dropping inside, it was like a slide as she slid out of the esophagus and into the stomach, where she was greeted with a dim light and a happy child of her's. "Mommy! " She squeaked happily, coming over and giving her mom a hug without touching her leg. Sarah grunted a little in surprise from the hug, but returned it the best she could, smiling calmly as her eyes gazed around the chamber, checking for any signs of danger. "I figured you'd be in here. " She told Lilly, running one of her hands through her hair gently. The child made a sad sound, but stayed laying next to her mom in the Devil's soft belly. "I wouldn't tell him w-where you were, but I t-think he was going to e-eat me anyway. " She responded, though she didn't sound too upset about it now.

Remembering what she heard, Sarah agreed with that. "Probably so sweetie, but you can't blame him too much, you did steal from him. " She decided now was a good of time as any to make this into a lesson, since no one was going to get harmed. "I told you not to steal, from him or anyone else. I don't want someone getting mad at you and hurting you sweetie and stealing isn't right. " She counted her blessings that they were as lucky as they were today, when she got attacked by that rat in the alleyway outside Lux it could have ended much much worse. "I'm sorry mommy... I just wanted you to have food to get better. I promise I won't steal ever again. " The little 7 year old said, curling her knees towards herself.

Sarah understood her daughter was worried about her, she was a sweet child, just sometimes a bit too worried about her. "I'll be alright... Don't worry about me... If you haven't apologized to mister Morningstar yet, I'd appreciate it if you would before we leave. " The Devil helped them when he didn't have to and his only thanks was her daughter stealing from him earlier, Sarah wanted to change that even if she might have uttered a thanks before, she couldn't really remember and rather do it formally and meaningfully. Lilly was still a little nervous though, probably about being eaten by him. "A-are you sure he's not g-going to hurt us? "She squeaked out worriedly, wanting to hear reassurance from her mother rather than what she assumed from speculation.

The mother gave a soft nod, stroking her daughter's shoulders comfortingly. "Yes I'm sure, Lucifer isn't a killer, if he was he would have done something by now. " She didn't want to get into the fact she purposely brought them here after getting attacked knowing what she knew, but that was mainly because she was too tired to explain a second time so soon. The child took that as comfort enough and nodded, snuggling against her mother a little closer, but being mindful of her wound still as Lilly too was tired. The penthouse was big and she had to do a lot of climbing all by herself, it wasn't easy and it took its toll on the girl. If only she told Lucifer sooner things might have worked out a little better, but either way they both were safe now. Shortly after the tiredness of the day took over and both little females were peacefully asleep.

Lucifer was packing up the medical kit when he listened to the two females talk between themselves, not interrupting but just listening curiously. Something Sarah said in the end caught his attention though... saying he wasn't a killer. It was true, Lucifer wasn't a killer at heart, he scared people half to death, threw them around a bit and a few times he came close due to rage and desperation, but most of the time something happened to talk him out of it thankfully. That's when it dawned on him though, the case he was working with Chloe... "I'm not a killer... but I know who is. " He wasn't sure why he didn't think of it before, but Lilly's loyalty and desperation to do what was best for her mother made him think of another mother.

The victim was a cruddy husband and while the wife was none the wiser, they had a 21 year old daughter who they were yet to talk to, but to Lucifer it made perfect sense. If the daughter found out what the husband was doing, she could very well have killed him for her mother's sake. The victim was shot so there was no real strength requirement, especially if she caught him off guard all she had to do was have the desperation to pull the trigger. Realizing he might have solved the case, he reached into his pocket for his phone, calling Chloe to tell her even if it was at a ungodly hour. No rest for the wicked they say, the wicked or the detectives apparently.

Chloe did answer after a while, sounding very tired and unhappy. "Ugh Lucifer what is it? You know it's in the middle of the night right? I don't have time fo-" The Devil cut her off after that, explaining why he called. "I know who the killer is detective, the bawling mother's daughter, she wasn't crying, she was angry. " He told her, hoping that was enough to get her to consider what he was wanting to tell her. "Lucifer... that doesn't really mean anything, she could have been angry that he died instead of crying, plus you haven't said why she did it. " Chloe told him, rubbing her head as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Well that's easy detective, she killed the buggar to do what she felt was right for her mum. Just because she didn't know what he was doing behind her back, that doesn't mean the daughter didn't. " He explained further with pride, feeling giddy as he felt he already solved the case.

The detective was quiet, mulling over the idea in her head. She had to admit he had a point, it made sense to a degree, but they had no proof, no murder weapon or anything. Then she remembered the cracker situation this morning and knew how often Lucifer liked to make the case about himself or something that happened to him. "Is this about the cracker thief? " She asked bluntly, knowing there was a good chance it was. Lucifer was a bit surprised, but found himself answering truthfully regardless. "The thief made me realize this angle, she stole the crackers from me to feed her injured mother, risking my wraith in the process and I think our killer did the same thing. Just... this was a bit more bloody than a cracker heist. "

Chloe didn't want to go, they didn't have a search warrant, but she had a feeling Lucifer might go anyway with or without her and she wanted to keep an eye on him. "Okay fine... let me call Dan and I'll get ready, I'll meet you at their house. " Maybe just maybe they will catch her in the act of something. If she was the killer she was young and inexperienced, which means she might be trying to hide evidence somehow. Plus she had to give him bonus points for even considering the case and calling her when he should probably be partying or something, having no idea he wasn't for once but one couldn't blame her for assuming the party hound was partying.

"Lovely detective~ Let's go catch us a killer. " He said with a bit too much delight, before hanging up. Still dressed in his suit and decent enough everywhere else, Lucifer decided to head out the way he was. Both of them got into their cars and while Lux was a little further away than Chloe's house was to the victim slash suspect's house, Lucifer drove faster and likely got on the road sooner as Chloe had to get back into her day clothes. It worked out perfectly though because they both pulled up at the same time, just in time to see the daughter carrying a paper bag towards the family car, but stopped and looked rather guilty as she saw two pairs of headlights pulling in.

Panicking and desperate, the girl pulled a gun out of the paper bag, pointing it at the drivers of each car, alternating between Lucifer and Chloe. While the Devil was still in his car, Chloe had already stepped out, but her gun was still on her hip. "You don't want to do this, put the gun down and we'll go back to the station, alright? " Chloe called in a relaxed, clear tone to try and defuse the situation. The girl was frightened, hands shaking as she was liable to pull the trigger by accident as much as on purpose, but from what Chloe could tell, the gun matched the same caliber as Ella said the victim was killed by. It was a 9MM, fairly basic pistol and plenty capable of killing someone. "No! You will just arrest me! For killing that-that selfish punk! He deserved everything he got after what he did to my mother and me! " She hollered at Chloe, now ignoring Lucifer for now.

That was pretty much a confession and Chloe at the back of her mind couldn't believe Lucifer was actually right about this one, not that she'd give him too much praise because then he'd let it get to his head and grow that already massive ego. "I tried to tell mom, b-but she just wouldn't listen! Explained off all the missing money a-and the times he was out late at night with that other woman with any excuse she could think of! I had to do something... didn't I? " The young woman continued, shaking more as tears built up in her eyes. Chloe meanwhile slowly walked around the car door, her hands up as she slowly closed the distance between them. At the corner of her eye, she noticed Lucifer's corvette was now minus one Devil, how the killer didn't see him get out was beyond her, but she knew he wouldn't flee the scene, no chances were he was trying to flank her. "I understand your frustration, but killing isn't the answer-"

She couldn't continue as she seemed to accidentally hit a nerve. "But it was! Nothing else would stop him! He would have just continued to take and take! My mom would have still kept making excuses for him! " The detective saw a tall dark figure move behind the killer, knowing it was probably Lucifer, she got ready to draw her gun as she thought on what else to say to keep stalling until he was ready to strike. "Your mother wasn't making excuses, she was in denial, she didn't want to believe it because she loved him too much. " The detective said, deciding to try and explain the situation the best she could instead of saying things to upset her further.

"And what about me!? Didn't she love me enough to make him stop?! " It seemed to only get worse, but just as it seemed like the killer was going to shoot Chloe, a hand shot out from behind and snatched the gun away from her shaky grasp, while the other hand grabbed her wrist to keep her from running away. "Let me go! " She demanded, pulling and yanking to try and get out of Lucifer's vice like grip on her wrist, while holding the gun high above his head, out of her reach. "Well well detective, seems I was right after all~ " The Devil said smugly, seeming to ignore the small angry woman trying to push on his shoulder to get free. Chloe shook her head and retrieved her handcuffs from her belt, grabbing the woman's free arm, then the one Lucifer held, in which he finally let go so she could cuff her. "So it seems, luckily for you. "

At that moment police arrived on the scene, someone probably calling 911 at some point and the killer was taken into custody, alongside the gun that now had Lucifer's prints on it, but they also had her's and they had a confession so it was basically case closed. With two mother related issues handled, Lucifer realized there was one last one to handle for his favorite mother, even if she wasn't his mother. While Chloe was talking to the police about what happened, Lucifer had driven away with some excuse of having to take care of something. The police and Chloe let him go since he wasn't really needed anymore anyway, they got the important parts and could ask him for a repeat in the morning.

He drove not to Lux, but to Chloe Decker's house, pulling up beside Daniel's car and stepping out. Without knocking he opened the unlocked door to her apartment and stepped inside, looking up to see the knives were still there. On the couch Dan was reading a book, but perked up when he heard the door close. "Ah Chloe you're back, did you-" he stopped himself when he saw it wasn't Chloe, causing him to close the book and put it aside. "What are you doing man? I thought you were with Chloe to get the killer. " He was still a bit wary of Lucifer from what happened the last time he was alone with the Devil and didn't really want a repeat, so he kept his distance for now as Lucifer strolled towards Trixie's room. "I did, well, we did, case closed~ But there was something else that needed taking care of before she gets home. "

Dan sighed, shaking his head and looking off to the side. He knew there was no arguing with the Devil most of the time, but it didn't mean he found the antics any less confusing. "Whatever man... just don't break anything. " He walked back to the couch to pick his book back up, trying to find where he was. Meanwhile Lucifer tapped on the girl's room, waiting to hear Trixie wake up. "Oh Beatrice~ Would you like to do something for your mum on mother's day? " he asked in a sing song voice, having an idea on how to get the knives off the ceiling. At first he received no response, but then he heard the pitter patter of tiny feet and then the door opened, a tired Trixie looking up at him. "I lost my project for mommy... What do you mean? " She asked him, sounding confused and a little sad.

Lucifer smiled, well, smirked really in glee of his plan. "We can help your mother with something I'd think she would appreciate, by getting the knives out from the roof in the kitchen that Mazikeen decided to leave there. " He explained, waiting to see what the child had to say about that. "I guess she might like that but how? We don't have a ladder yet. " She shrugged, confused by why Lucifer came over so late and for this of all things. It's not that she didn't like seeing him though, she almost always liked seeing Lucifer. "We don't need a ladder~ Between you and me we'll be high enough. " The Devil answered, stepping aside and walking to the kitchen as he hoped the child would follow him.

She did, slowly as she didn't want to stand under the knives. "Ready? " He asked, eyebrow quirked as he didn't just want to pick her up without her being ready, well really he didn't want to touch her at all, but for the idea it was either her or Daniel and he rather pick her. "Uhh I guess, yeah. " She sounded unsure but also a bit eager to help her mom for tomorrow. "Lovely~ Up you go. " Lucifer then bent down and gently grabbed her by the waist, lifting the little human up above his head. Between Lucifer's 6'3" frame, probably add another foot for arm length above his head, then the child's height and arm length, she was actually able to reach the knives. "Now, grab one knife at a time, by the handle and pull straight out. " He instructed, watching the best he could as she slowly grabbed the first knife with both hands, pulling until it finally came loose.

"Splendid~ Now just drop the knife away from yourself, we'll pick it up later, then do the same with the next knife. " He explained, hoping the small human could follow his instructions correctly. Thankfully she did toss the knife and it clattered to the ground a few feet away from Lucifer. She kept doing this until all the knives were down. "Okay! That's all of them. " She responded, sounding much more chipper about it now that the mission was complete. Pleased with his handiwork the tall Devil set the child down onto her feet. "Thank you Lucifer, I know mommy was upset about that and... well, now we fixed it! " Trixie told him, giving him one of her trademark hugs. Although while she sort of had a point, there was still holes in the ceiling from the knives, it was better than it was before.

He shifted uncomfortably, waiting helplessly until she let go. "Yes... well, you're welcome child, but I must be off. Now go to bed. " He gently ushered her into her room and closed the door, sighing in relief that he survived the interaction with the human spawn. Knowing the detective was returning home any minute, Lucifer gathered up the knives and placed them back in the block, before heading out towards the door. However when he reached to open it, it opened first, the detective pausing and looking a little confused as to why he was here. "Oh Lucifer... what are you doing in my apartment? " She asked, sounding a little suspicious.

Lucifer gave a smug grin and slipped by her instead. "Just got finished taking care of something detective, don't worry, just go back to bed. " He assured, before walking off back to his car. Chloe opened her mouth to stop him and demand an explanation, but she was so tired that she didn't feel like wrestling with it. Instead she headed inside, closed the door and locked it this time. With the third mother related issue taken care of, the Devil was satisfied and decided it was time to head back to Lux, to rest and get ready to take care of his two guests still nestled in his stomach during all of this until they were well enough to move on. Overall he felt today was a very successful day. 


End file.
